


With you I'm brighter (you know with you I'm fine)

by wordsasweapons



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Swan-Mills Family, and little shit wing man henry, crack??, definitely family fluff, filled with awkward in love regina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 10:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4956163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsasweapons/pseuds/wordsasweapons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mom does a lot of pining, and a lot of barely passably discreet staring at Ma. </p><p>Henry cooks up a plan, and finds himself as Mom's wingman because naturally, that's what every son ends up spending his time doing, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	With you I'm brighter (you know with you I'm fine)

**Author's Note:**

> for ray (@bisexualswan) because she wanted awkward in love regina and regal believer teaming up to get her to ask emma out. i didn't really go in the direction i started out with, but whatever.
> 
> this is stupid fluff, slightly crack-ish swan mills family nonsense to satisfy my own little heart, and hopefully yours as well. seeing as it's 2am, any mistakes are mine and will be fixed later. and if this makes no sense, my fault as well.

~

 

"Mom!" The exasperated voice of her son pulls Regina from her thoughts, and her barely passably discreet staring. He sighs, dropping his pen to his open notebook, crossing his arms and giving her this _Look_. Regina thinks he looks so much like her in this moment, all business and irritation.

 

"Are you listening?" He asks.

 

She straightens, turning in her seat at the counter muttering a 'yes, sweetheart' before reaching for her cup of coffee.

 

He sighs heavier this time, looking over at the booth towards the back of the diner, eyes landing on what Mom must have been staring at. He thinks for a moment he may actually give himself a headache if he rolled his eyes any harder. _Of course_.

 

Ma's with Grandma, Gramps and Neal, eating breakfast and talking, easy smiles across their faces. And it's nice, it really is. It'd be nicer if Moms eyes didn't keep darting over towards them like she so desperately wants to join them. Well, one in particular.

 

It's been this way for months now, this weird pining Moms got going on, ever since saving Emma from the Dark One's curse. (Maybe even since it had happened, Mom always looked so SAD.) Ma had promptly kicked Hook to the curb after one too many over the top attempts to get her attention and love. Henry had off handedly referred to the whole thing as something Shakespeare would probably write, supposed to be Romantic and Tragic. He'd gotten a good little whack for that from Ma, but whatever.

 

Henry takes his pen, tucking it into the pages of his notebook, closing it and pushing it to the side just in time for their pancakes being placed in front of them. This has sort of become their thing, breakfast together at the diner every Saturday and Sunday, while Mom helps him with homework.

 

He looks back over at Mom, who hasn't touched her food and takes it upon himself to pour the syrup over her pancakes and places a hand over her shoulder, "Mom, come on, eat up."

 

"Hmm? Oh," Mom shifts, looking from the plate in front of her, and back to her son. She frowns. "I'm sorry, Henry. I'm... distracted."

 

He snorts, "I've noticed." She gives him a side glance before cutting into her pancakes and taking small bites.

 

He keeps his eyes on Mom throughout their meal, mulling over a growing an idea he may just have to put into action. It's been awhile since he's had the chance to meddle in things, anyway.

 

~

 

They're back home, Henry eventually opting to go home to finish his homework. He's stretched out on the floor of Regina's study, books and paper spread out around him, pen tapping against his temple. Regina's at her desk, going over her own work when Henry speaks up.

 

"How come you didn't just join Ma and them for breakfast?" His tone is a little sharp, which earns him a disapproving look.

 

Regina shrugs, "It was their day for family breakfast," she taps the papers in her hands softly against the desk before placing them in a folder that joins the small stack at the end of the desk. "It was our day as well." She hears Henry stand, shuffling over and then dropping his hands to her desk.

 

"I was thinking, maybe we have dinner here tonight, instead of at Grandma and Gramps." Regina looks up from the papers in front of her, and he adds quickly, "And just have Ma over, just us three?"

 

Regina eyes him curiously. "Henry, we've had this planned for a week now, we can't just--"

 

"I know how you feel about Ma." He blurts out and Regina freezes. He gives her a lopsided grin that's so _Emma_. Regina takes a deep breath, pushing the papers to the side.

 

"Henry..."

 

"It's okay, Mom, really. What's not okay, though, are the looks you give her. Like it _hurts_ you that you're not by her side, doing all that... domestic stuff."

 

She looks away, practically blushing, which is ridiculous. This is all ridiculous.

 

She sighs, "It's not that easy."

 

"You're both single." He replies, matter of factly.

 

And that is true. Hook's no longer in the picture, neither is Robin, who couldn't quite understand the need to find something meaningful, something fought for and earned rather than being handed an easy, sure thing. That had made the decision to end it easier and it gave her a sense of peace that she had done the right thing.

 

"I just..." there's frustration in his voice and on his face when Regina looks up at him, he looks back at her and his face softens before continuing, "I just want you to be happy." There's so much love in those words, in his voice, and Regina smiles at him warmly.

 

Regina fidgets in her chair suddenly, wringing her hands together. "I'm... not sure how to go about this," she frowns and he just grins at her before coming around the desk to her side, leaning down enough to throw his arm around her shoulders.

 

"Text Ma, tell her there's been a change of plans, but she's allowed to join us tonight." He steps away, gathering up his mess of schoolwork and walking out the door before adding, "Tell her you're making her favorite."

 

Regina's left at her desk, mouth slightly agape and wondering what the hell just happened. She misses the smug laughter of her son as he makes his way up the stairs to his room.

 

~

 

To say the night was, well, anything short of painfully awkward and filled with secondhand embarrassment would be an understatement. At least if you asked him. Because grown ups who are in love are gross, and terrible at flirting.

 

It all started the moment Ma walked through the door, obediently kicking her boots off by the front door and hanging her jacket in the hall closet. She followed him into the kitchen, Mom humming softly as she grabbed plates from the cupboards. He sat himself at his stool at the counter, Ma walking past and bumping hips with Mom, giving her a soft smile and 'hi.' Mom, of course, all but melts, eyes practically twinkling before handing Ma the plates and telling her to set the table.

 

He pretends to gag in response to it all once Ma's out of the room. That gets him a kitchen towel tossed at his head. Which, okay, calm down, Mom.

 

Mom had ended up making Ma's favorite after all, homemade pizza. Ma had said one night how surprised she was that Mom would even eat pizza, let alone make it, and quickly deemed it her absolute favorite thing Regina's ever cooked. She says this about everything, though. Still, Mom had looked like she'd just been given the greatest honor in the world.

 

Ma's sitting across from them. Mom had eyed you funny when you insisted on sitting beside her but shrugged it off. Talk had mostly been about the events of the week, school, work, Ma being absolutely sure Neal's first real word had been 'Emma.' Neither you nor Mom had the heart to tell her it was actually Mom's name, last week when they had taken their turn babysitting him.

 

(It isn't until each of their plates are cleared, the pizza all but gone save a couple slices, when The Thing happens.)

 

Ma stands, gathering her plate and napkin. "I should probably get going," she says. Mom looks disappointed for a brief moment before shaking it off and attempting to stand to clear the table.

 

He reacts quickly, reaching his foot out, kicking Mom in the shin, which results in Mom letting out an undignified yelp and earns him a glare and a hissed 'Henry!'

 

"Uh," Ma watches the two of them, a mix of concern and confusion, "you two okay?"

 

Mom continues to glare at him. Henry sighs, raising his eyebrows and giving her a _look_ , before barely nodding in Ma's direction. Mom's mouth shapes into an 'oh,' before turning to Ma.

 

"Would you like to stay for a drink?" Mom asks, with a hopeful smile.

 

Ma takes another second to look between the two of them, then meets Mom's smile with one of her own. "Sure," she nods, before adding "I'm just gonna clean up, okay?" Mom makes to help, but Ma just waves her off insisting since Mom made dinner.

 

"That was a disaster," he says, pushing his chair back and standing. Mom turns around to glare at him once again, eyes screaming 'it's your fault' and if he were still ten he might have been afraid, instead he snorts.

 

"You are the worst son, I swear." Regina mumbles, crossing her arms.

 

He leans over, kissing her cheek. "Love you too," he replies.

 

"Regina?" Comes Ma's voice. Mom sighs, no doubt thinking Ma didn't really clean up, rather just put the dirty dishes in the sink and went straight for the living room. He grins, placing his hands on Mom's shoulders and turning her towards the living room.

 

"Go! Go do your adult flirting!" He says and it's Mom this time who snorts, shrugging him off.

 

"I'm going to consider grounding you for this," Mom replies, before walking out of the room to go join Ma.

 

"You're welcome!" He shouts, rolling his eyes before his faces turns up in a smile.

 

~

 

It's much later when he makes his way down the stairs, planning on sneaking some of the leftover pizza up to his room for a 2am snack when he freezes, eyes landing on the soft light coming from the living. Curiosity taking over, of course, he tiptoes his way over and peering around the corner. It's there, on one of the couches, he sees them wrapped up in each other, Ma's hand stroking Mom's hair, Mom's head tucked in the crook between Ma's neck and shoulder.

 

"I can't believe it took you so long to get your shit together," he hears Ma say. Mom chuckles, it's deep and filled with such warmth and adoration.

 

"Well, I suppose we have Henry to thank for, quite literally, kicking me to do something about it."

 

Mom laughs in response before adding, "That too, I can't believe our son was your wing man. Come on, Regina." That gets Ma a shove of her shoulder, then Mom leans in and presses a soft kiss to Ma's lips.

 

 _Gross_. But Henry smiles anyway, stepping away and heading back up the stairs quietly, forgetting the pizza. Mom and Ma happy, and together beats pizza any day. He gives himself a pat on the back for another successful plan, of course.

 

~

 

Henry eventually gives up one of his weekend days with Mom when his mothers relationship is finally out in the open, and it turns into Mom and Ma's morning to go out and be with each other for breakfast. He's sitting at his desk writing a paper when his phone beeps. Reaching for it, it's a text from Ma. Unlocking it, he's met with a picture of his mothers. Ma's leaning against the wall with Mom tucked close into her side, both of them beaming at the camera. He grins, shaking his head as he types a quick reply.

 

**_You two are The Worst._ **


End file.
